“The Bombing of Munich” is a short animated excerpt of a 2019 interview with Josepha Worden, an 83-year-old German immigrant to the United States. During World War II, she was a child, living in Munich when it was bombed by the allies. Submitted Image

FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington Emery Community Arts Center is launching its spring semester lineup with “American Conversations: Short Films and Artifacts,” a media exhibit by Dawn Nye, UMF associate professor of Art – New Media, according to a news release from the center.

The exhibit is due to run from Thursday, Jan. 27 through Wednesday, March 9. An opening reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan 27. An artist talk is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2.

American Conversations marks the start of a new body of work by Nye pertaining to the conversations and stories people tell ourselves and others every day. Through looking at formative moments in her subjects’ lives, she asks the questions: at what point do our disparate stories meet? And when does the personal become universal?

Combining interviews, animation and print media, her work aims to transcend traditional documentary and reveal these intimate stories in a way that honors people’s collective experiences.

Dawn Nye, UMF associate professor of Art – New Media. Submitted photo

Nye has worked as a graphic designer and has also maintained a studio art practice for 20 years. She has exhibited and screened her work in the United States as well as in Europe. She is most interested with telling stories of conflicting human desires, best intentions, beauty and futility.

Nye uses humor, pathos and the history of image to connect to ideas that cannot be accurately described with words. She is influenced by graphic design, film, animation, music, literature and the history of art, but also by the people she meets, the neighborhoods she has lived in and the headlines she reads.

She earned an Master of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in New Media and Design. Since then, her work has been screened and shown nationally and internationally in film festivals and art galleries, most notably at The Art Kitchen in Milan, The Torpedo Gallery and the CICA Museum in South Korea.

The exhibit and related events are free and open to the public. Masks are required at all indoor events, at all times, by all attendees on UMF’s campus.

All visitors to the center will be required to register with name and contact information upon entry. This information will only be used if the university needs to conduct contact tracing in the event of a confirmed exposure to the coronavirus. Updates to COVID-19 protocols for all University of Maine System campuses can be found at maine.edu.

The center’s gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, and closed Sundays and holidays.